Page 22 of The Arcane God

The horse bucked his head backwards, and he released the reins. He didn’t want to abandon him, but if he kept pushing him, they might both be killed. Best to let him cross on his own like Mahnin had.

But then the horse stumbled, going down on its front legs, the water pushing it over, and instinctively, Ty reached for it, grabbing its reins and holding on with all his strength to stop it from getting swept away. Not only did he not want the horse to die, but a significant amount of their food and clothing was in his packs. He couldn’t lose them.

“Come on!” he shouted, gritting his teeth against the onslaught.

“Ty!” Ena screamed.

And he looked up just in time to see the giant log as it slammed into him and his horse.

The blow hurt, but as he fell backwards into the water, his lungs filled with the icy cold, and that hurt worse. He couldn’t breathe as he tumbled under the waves, losing track of which way was up and which was down. He felt the horse’s reins tangle around his wrist, tugging him downriver as his head slammed into something hard, and the world went dark.

Chapter Nine

Ena

“Ty!” Ena screamed, but it was too late. The huge log slammed into him and his horse, knocking them backwards into the water. The rush of the river covered them instantly, and she lost track of him.

Ena ran to the bank. Should she jump in after him? Her instincts were screaming at her to do something, but logically, she knew that getting herself lost in the water would be pointless.

She saw the horse’s head pop up momentarily as it struggled for air, and she tracked its movements, looking for any sign of Ty.

“Quick!” Turner yelled, digging into his horse’s pack and pulling out a rope. “Ena, run downriver!”

Ena started sprinting as fast as she could, trying fruitlessly to keep up with the river’s pace. She heard Turner running behind her and he soon surpassed her.

“Do you see him anywhere?” Ena shouted at him. Her eyes were fixed on the white caps of the river, looking for any sign of Ty’s body. How were they not seeing him? Where had he gone?

“Fuck!” Turner shouted as they rounded a bend in the river, only to see it descend into a stretch of deadly rapids.

Huge, jagged boulders dotted the river’s stream as the waves crashed into them, forcing the water to gyrate into dense eddies and holes. She watched as the giant log that had crashed into them tore downstream at breakneck speed, smashing into the rocks—bouncing off them and finally breaking apart.

Where is he, where is he, where is he.

Ena’s mind was frantic and terrified, frozen in a perpetual loop of the same repeating thought.

And then she saw him. For the briefest second, his head popped up out of the water—eyes closed, face slack—only to be sucked immediately back down.

Oh Gaia, he was unconscious. Was he breathing? Was he alive? She knew that if the water didn’t drown him, the cold of it would kill him in due time. How could they get to him?

“Turner, did you see him?!” she shouted. “I just saw him—he popped up for a second.”

“Keep running, keep going, Ena. Hopefully, the river slows after this section and we’ll catch him if he pops up again.”

“He was out cold! How can he grab the rope if he’s unconscious?” Ena cried, the panic in her voice evident to her own ears.

“Just keep going, Ena,” was all Turner said.

The two of them ran downstream, dodging the trees and plant life along the banks, her lungs nearly bursting with the effort. Eventually, the river evened out after the rapids, smoothing into a swift, straight line, but it was deeper than it was above as the landscape narrowed. In the distance, she saw something floating on the river’s surface—moving along. It was black and brown and—

Ty’s horse.

“The horse, the horse!” Ena yelled ahead to Turner, pointing frantically at it. It was clearly struggling to swim, trying to make its way to shore. Turner spotted it then and made a beeline for the spot on the bank adjacent from it. Turner called to it, urging it to swim—as if it needed any encouragement. The poor thing looked terrified as its eyes bugged out and it frantically paddled through the water.

As it got closer to the edge, Turner went a few feet into the river, as far as he dared, and reached out to it, pulling its dangling reins and guiding it the last few feet out of the water. The poor horse collapsed as its legs hit the shore, immediately laying on its side as its lungs huffed, catching its breath. Turner went to it, stroking its nose and whispering soothing words. But Ena kept her eyes on the water.

The horse was here. Ty had to be close. She’d seen him. She’d seen him. He had to be nearby. He had to. He’d find his way to the shore like the horse had.

After a few minutes, Turner stood back up and came to her side. “Any more sign of him?” he asked.